BASEL 



610 



BASKET BALL 



ir to a small diamond. The hall 

 :trer than the outdoor ball. Tin- i>ai is 

 :-. The bases are not fastened to the 

 floor. 



The main points in which the rules differ 



iiose of outdoor baseball are the follow- 



ing: d 1 lather seven or nine may constitute 



a team; (2) the pitcher must swing his arm 



parallel with the body, and must stand within 



.-; (3) a pitched ball striking the batter 



does not entitle him to a base; (1) a bat ted ball 



is fair or foul according to where it first hits, 



not when- it afterwards rolls; (5) a base runner 



must be at his base when the pitcher delivers 



the ball and must not leave it till it has 



cher. w.c. 



ilt Spaldingf's Baseball (iuidc, for com- 

 plete rules ; issued annually. For special in- 

 struction. consult Spalding's Jmrr/m's National 



chadwiek's Art of Pitching, Fielding and 

 Base Running. 



BASEL, bah' zel, a most important commer- 

 cial and manufacturing city of Switzerland, 

 capital of the canton, or state, of Basel-Stadt. 

 It is forty-three miles north of Berne, in two 

 part.< on opposite sides of the Rhine, con- 

 nected by three bridges, the oldest of which 

 dates from the thirteenth century. It has an 

 ancient cathedral, founded in 1010, containing 

 the tombs of eminent persons, the most notable 

 being that of Erasmus; a university, founded 

 in .1459; a seminary for missionaries, and a 

 museum containing the valuable public library 

 and pictures. The city possesses a most valu- 

 able collection of the works of the Holbeins, 

 who for a time made their home in Basel (see 

 HOLBEIN). The industries embrace the manu- 

 facture of silk ribbons, paper, aniline dyes, 

 tanning and brewing. More than fifty per cent 

 of the imports of Switzerland pass through 

 Basel. 



Here was signed the treaty of peace between 

 Franco and Prussia and that between France 

 and 'Spain, both in the year 1795, and in Basel 

 was held an ecclesiastical council in 1431 (see 

 COUNCIL OF). Population in 1910, 

 131,914. 



BASE LINE, in surveying, a line of known 

 length and position, taken as the starting point 

 for laying out townships and their subdivisions. 

 For further description and illustration, see 



BASILICA, basil'ika, among the ancient 

 Romans a great oblong hall in which the 

 magistrates heard pleas for justice and gave 

 decisions. These courtrooms were common 



throughout the Roman world at the beginning 

 of the Christian Kra. The length of the typical 

 basilica was about three times the width. At 

 one end was the entrance; the other (Mid, 

 called the apse, which had the form of a half- 

 circle, contained a raised floor or platform on 

 which the judges had their seats. The roof was 

 supported by two rows of pillars which ran 

 from the apse to the front of the hall, and 

 divided the main floor into three aisles a 

 central aisle, called the nave, and a narrower 

 one on each side of it, called the portico. 



There were numerous modifications of this 

 type; the famous Basilica Julia, for instance, 

 one of the most splendid buildings of ancient 

 Rome, had five aisles and four rows of columns. 

 The basilica furnished the model for the early 

 Christian churches, and for a longtime churches 

 built on this plan were known as basilicas. 



BASIN, bay' s'n. In the ordinary meaning 

 of the term, a basin is the region drained by a 

 river and all its branches, or the area drained 

 by a river system. The Mississippi basin, for 

 instance, includes all that part of North Amer- 

 ica drained into the Mississippi River and its 

 tributaries. The term is also applied to regions 

 in the interior of a continent, which have no 

 outlet to the sea. In these regions salt lakes 

 are occasionally found, such as Great Salt Lake 

 in Utah, and the Dead Sea in Palestine. The 

 streams in these basins flow into the lakes or 

 disappear in the sands. 



BASKET BALL, an American game played 

 either out-of-doors or in gymnasiums, and 

 popular with both sexes. It is an excellent 

 game not only for physical exercise but for 

 mental training as well, as it calls for concen^ 

 tration, quickness of perception and thought 

 and the "team work" which is so valuable a 

 feature of all group plays. Its rules governing 

 fouls and behavior on the floor are so stringent, 

 that anger and loss of self-control practically 

 rule one out of the game. Physically, the game 

 does not demand the great strength of foot- 

 ball; but quickness, agility, endurance, a keen 

 sense of direction and muscular control are 

 essential. Throughout it is a rapid game, well 

 played only by enthusiastic players who throw 

 themselves heart and soul into the sport. 



Beginnings of Basket Ball. Unlike most 

 games basket ball was not a slow growth, but. 

 was invented by a quick-witted young man. 

 James Naismith had listened in the Young 

 Men's Christian Association training school at 

 Springfield, Mass., to a lecture on the elements 

 of successful games, which proposed certain 



